Sisterhood in Blues A Little Churchin' Up
by Delilah Kelley
Summary: When you have no family, you create your own. Still having fun with my chosen sister, in the guise of Jake & Elwood, this time the exhilarating scene at the place of worship. 2nd story, others to follow. Check this !


_A story of friendship and of "chosen" sisterhood – Roxy as Jake and Vinnie as Elwood – I always loved the fact that these two brothers chose themselves to be brothers. The same thing happened between Roxy and me ! (yes, Vinnie's my nickname and Roxy's my chosen sister's. Yeeaauup !)_

_Just having fun writing this piece – I always found the church scene most exhilarating. And as Roxy and I are Baha'is, I changed the context a little bit while keeping the message that whatever your religion may be, light can touch everybody, everybody. By the way, Jack Lenz does really exists and he writes wonderful spiritual songs. The scene is based on the extended version which had been released for the 25th anniversary._

Roxy and Vinnie were having a drink at Curtis and Ella's place, that is, the basement they used as a place to live. The old Black couple who helped the orphanage, were too poor to rent a better place. The basement under the orphanage had been their apartment as long as Roxy and Vinnie could remember. The two little girls always came here after class, enjoying Ella's singing and Curtis playing music. There, they felt in family. In fact, Ella and Curtis were the closest thing the two girls had as parents. Ella had taught Roxy how to sing while Curtis had taught Vinnie how to play the guitar and above all the blues harp. The nuns were very severe with them girls but going down to the basement to see Ella and Curtis was like going to heaven for them two.

About three years ago, Ella had died. Curtis was very lonely now – fortunately he had the support of the kids and the nuns at the orphanage. He was still helping Sister Mary Stigmata for the daily chores the nuns could not perform. He was always happy to see Roxy and Vinnie he considered as his very daughters. The two Blues sisters had even adopted his way of dressing up, black suits, black hats and black shades, like their mentor.

Now they were sharing a drink. An old Elmore James tune could be heard in the background. Yeah, the basement was heaven in sort of.

"Yeah, the sister was right. You girls could use a little churchin' up. Slide on down to the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette. Get to the auditorium they have there and catch Dr. Jack Lenz, doctor in theology. You girls listen to what he's got to say !"

Roxy put down her glass on the table after taking a sip. "Curtis, I don't wanna hear some kind of jive-ass preacher talking to me about heaven and hell !"

Curtis frowned behind his shades. Vinnie looked at her sister and the old man. She felt Roxy had once more said something wrong. She was right. Curtis pointed his index to the elder Blues sister to admonish her. "Roxy ! You get wise ! You go to the Baha'i House of Worship !"

♪ ♪ ♪

Vinnie parked the Bluesmobile in front of the auditorium of the Baha'i House of Worship. Some folks were already entering the place, nicely dressed with colorful garments. The two Blues sisters offered a sharp contrast in their black suits and a somewhat disquieting look with their sunglasses and their hats on. Roxy was in a bad mood – she expressed it by slamming shut the car door on her side a bit brutally.

"All I'm saying is," Vinnie began while readjusting her tie, "we have to figure out a way to get that money… honestly."

"Mmmm…" Roxy said while readjusting her own tie too, "That could be a problem." She was not convinced at all. She was real annoyed in fact. She glanced around to see more people entering the House of Worship auditorium dressed in their Sunday best.

"It's like the Penguin says – we gotta make that move towards redemption. We gotta go to church," Vinnie went on all the more seriously.

Roxy smirked. "_We gotta make that move towards redemption. We gotta go to church_," she imitated with a high pitched voice, like a good little girl would say. "Bullshit !" she concluded with a sarcastic tone.

"Come on," Vinnie said softly while gently pushing her sister towards the building entrance. Roxy moved forward reluctantly. Vinnie could prove most persuasive sometimes.

People entered the place. Some of them carried sheets of music and scores. But Roxy was too much in a bad mood to pay attention to that detail. The two sisters just followed the flow of people. They entered a big room inside the building. A choir was already in place there, as well as a pianist, an organist behind the harmonium, a bass guitar player and a drummer. Everybody took a seat. Roxy and Vinnie felt completely displaced there and they both remained at the back of the room but in front of the central alley, glancing around, standing up just in the line of sight of the pulpit where a master of ceremony was now welcoming people.

"And now, this week's fireside from our beloved Dr Jack Lenz !" the MC announced while turning himself towards a man seating behind him.

The man was dressed casually. He did not look like a preacher at all. In fact, these Baha'i folks had no clergy. So he was no priest or preacher. Curtis had described him as a doctor in theology. Raised as Catholics at the orphanage, Roxy and Vinnie did not know how to qualify him. So they stick to the closest description they could give of Dr Lenz : a teacher – which was not totally wrong. He came closer to the pulpit and greeted the audience in the mike. The organist played a few measures on his harmonium. Some people clapped their hands.

At the back of the room, Roxy began to move out of exasperation. Now there would be some kind of a sermon or whatever these Baha'i folks would call it ! Roxy looked at her sister with a pleading look but all she got was a glance Vinnie shot at her to silence her. Roxy sighed in despair – no one would hear her plea.

"And now people…" Dr Lenz began, "And now people, when I woke up this morning, I heard a disturbing sound." His speech was punctuated by a bit of music from the harmonium and cheers from the audience. "I said when I woke up this morning, I heard a disturbing sound," he repeated a little louder. "What I heard, was the jingle-jangle of a thousand of lost souls ! I'm talking about the souls of modern men and women departed from this life ! Wait a minute !"

At this point, all Roxy could do to express her exasperation was to check her watch – even though her Timex was broken – in a provoking manner as she knew the teacher could not but see her. Vinnie looked at her disapprovingly but Roxy did not even bother watching her.

Dr Lenz went on. "Those lost, anguished souls roamed unseen over there, seeking to find a light they won't find because it's too late !"

Roxy looked around herself. Maybe there would be a way to escape that place. It could not be as guarded as Joliet after all. At one moment, her gaze met Vinnie's. She sighed once again, resignating herself not to pull up an escape.

"… too late… too late, yeah !" Dr Lenz continued while the audience was cheering each of his words. "Too late for them to ever see again the light they chose once not to follow !"

Roxy and Vinnie remained unflappable at the back of the room. Well, one could have said these words could have applied to the two sisters. But for the time being, they did not even touch them. They were just words spread in the air.

"Alright, alright," Dr Lenz went on, gesturing at his audience. For sure, the man had some charisma. "Don't be lost when the time comes ! For the Day of the Lord cometh, like a thief in the night ! Heeeeeeey !" The atmosphere was really warming up now. "Do you hear me ?!" The audience approved and applauded heartily. "Do you hear me ?!" he repeated again. "Well, well, well !" he said while turning himself toward the small band and the choir. He signaled them to start singing, singing himself in response to the choir.

A joyful, rhythmic tune began to play. The people gathered here began to tap their feet to the ground and clap their hands according to the rhythm set by the band. Some people took their sheets of music in hand to sing along with the choir, standing up and moving in tempo. Some other folks left their seats and began to dance to the tune played though this was a gospel, that is, sacred music.

Roxy suddenly lifted her head when she heard the rhythmic tune being played. It had raised her interest. Her movement did not escape Vinnie. The younger Blues sister was interested too. She felt good, everybody seemed to have a real good time here and enjoy the music. Now they were both paying attention, listening carefully what was played and sung.

The tune was magical. The atmosphere was magical. Even two low-life orphans like the Blues sisters could not remain un-sensitive to it. That music was pretty much like the music they loved to play and sing. In fact, the blues they played had its very roots in gospel and was born first in places of worship. Dr Lenz's voice had something almost hypnotical – he had real charisma and all the people around, whether young or old, cheered and sang, their hands up, dancing to the fast pace set up by the musicians.

At one moment, Roxy began to shake. She was completely inside the music being played. Her face was shaking, her gaze was fixed on the teacher at his pulpit, her body was trembling in tempo as if it wanted to move on but was still imprisoned in some chains or whatever. Vinnie noticed it and looked at her in concern. "Roxy ! Are you alright ?" she said while putting a gentle hand on her sister's shoulder.

Roxy did not answer back to her sister. She was transported somewhere else, into some other level of existence – or of music, she could not have told. Suddenly, another tune rang in her ears. A mighty sound of trumpets sounded around from nowhere and everywhere. Some kind of divine music, as if angels were playing all around her. Roxy could not hear the gospel played around though it was reaching an apex. She felt surrounded by a sweet yet powerful light. She did not know where it was coming from but she did not care. That was not important. A ray of light was on her, engulfing her body and soul like a mother's arms, tenderly, and at the same time, awfully compelling. But Roxy did not mind. She felt good, so good. The feeling provided by this light was great, like something sure she could cling to, a certitude that would dwell with her forever now.

"The band…" Roxy began in a whisper. People around were still moving to the gospel played and sung but she was like in a bubble of her own. "The band," she said louder this time. Vinnie looked at her, more concerned than ever. _What is she talking about ?_

"Do you see the light ?!" Dr Lenz was just opposite to Roxy in the central alley. From his pulpit he had asked the question. It seemed like only Roxy and Dr Lenz could see that light shining on the elder Blues sister and engulfing her as if she was somebody real special worthy of the Lord's attention.

"The band !" Roxy shouted this time, though nobody could hear her, except Vinnie standing just beside her, so much the ruckus in the room was at its highest.

"Do you see the light ?!" Dr Lenz asked again, pointing his index towards Roxy.

"What light ?" Vinnie asked. She could not make heads or tails of what was going on.

"Have you seen the light ?!" Dr Lenz repeated.

"Yes, yes, Jesus H. tap-dancing Christ ! I have seen the light !" Roxy shouted her answer to the teacher, raising her both arms upwards in some kind of prayer or acknowledgement.

Vinnie looked at her sister. She was aware something weird was going on but she did not know what. The divine music faded in Roxy's ears and she came back to earth. The gospel tune played took its place, carrying with it its branches – one of which was called the blues. Roxy threw herself down the central alley, doing cartwheels on tempo with the music, under the gaze of her sister whose jaw was dropping at the movement in complete amazement.

Roxy cartwheeled to join the crowd dancing before the seats. People left room for her to move on. They did not know who she was, where she came from, what her purpose was, but they welcomed her as such. Then she did some tap-dancing moves to the tempo of the music. The audience, the choir, the musicians were giving all they had now.

After a few seconds spent dancing with the other folks, Roxy reached her sister still standing at the back of the room, exiting the way she had entered, doing cartwheels, still in rhythm with the music. She felt full of a new energy. Vinnie was waiting for her there, a baffled look on her face. Roxy just ended her series of cartwheels standing in front of her sister.

"The band, Vinnie ! The band !" Roxy shouted while grabbing her sister's arms, shaking her with her powerful grip on her arms.

"The band…" Vinnie said with a disbelieving tone. Suddenly something happened to her too. Through the life-bond she shared with her sister, she felt something powerful entering her body and soul. Roxy's enthusiasm could be communicative – save that this time, it was beyond mere enthusiasm. The skeptical look on Vinnie's face disappeared.

"The band," Vinnie repeated almost to herself. Roxy nodded, cracking a small smile in approval. "The band ?" Vinnie continued as if she was asking a question while knowing the answer already. "The band !" she exclaimed loudly. Yes, now she knew what her sister meant. Yes, she understood what had happened to Roxy a few minutes ago. She was feeling it too now.

"Praise the Lord !" Dr Lenz shouted in his mike. He had not lost one single second of what had happened with the two black dressed figures standing at the back of the room.

"And God bless the United States of America !" Vinnie shouted in reply, freeing herself from her sister's grip. She was taken by a sudden dancing frenzy too and began to move down the central alley, dancing with very fast movements of her feet, joining the crowd in front of the seats, where Roxy had been dancing few seconds ago. Left alone at the back, Roxy began to dance too, resorting to some of the blues dancing movements she knew best, while her sister was communing with the rest of the people assembled there. As for Roxy, people left room for Vinnie to move among them, welcoming her with cheers like they had done for the other Blues sister. Vinnie felt good amidst these folks and for few seconds she would never forget, she felt like she was in some kind of musical heaven. It even came to her mind that if heaven did exist for blues musicians, it must have looked surely like this.

Then Vinnie came back to the back of the room where her sister Roxy was dancing on her own. Both Blues sisters danced together to the tune of the music, completely engulfed by the loving and fervent atmosphere. Yeah, if there was a heaven for blues musicians, they wanted it to be like this.

The music went on, each time reaching a level that would be the apex then moving on higher and higher. The audience was wild now and even Dr Lenz was dancing and encouraging the crowd with words of joy and praise. Roxy and Vinnie were still dancing on their own, separate from the other people but communing with them somehow through the power of music.

"Let's stay in the service of the Lord !" the choir sang their last line with an extreme fervor and faith. Then the music faded away and everybody congratulated everybody, drained but happy to have shared a real moment of paradise on earth.

But Roxy and Vinnie had already left the room. Yes, Curtis was right. They had to listen to what Dr Lenz had to say – and they did indeed. Now, not only they knew what to do to save the orphanage but they also had the energy to carry out their mission from God.

© Copyright 2007 – Delilah Kelley


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